Airmen forming a detachment of C-17 crew management specialists have taken Spangdahlem AB, Germany, home to a new C-17 airlift unit, the 726th Air Mobility Squadron, into the world of one-stop en route mission planning—making airlift preparation go a lot faster. The seven airmen of Det. 5, 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, operating out of the base’s new airlift mobility control center, do everything for airlift crews from booking rooms for crew rest to providing intelligence and special tactics briefings, reports Air Force journalist Louis Arana-Barradas.
Bell Textron has won DARPA's contest for a no-runway, high-speed drone that will prove out technologies useful for special operations forces and possibly the Air Force's Agile Combat Employment concept. Bell's design converts a tiltrotor to a jet-powered aircraft able to fly at up to 450 knots.